


To Grandmother's House We Go

by Liviania



Category: Little Red Riding Hood (Fairy Tale)
Genre: Cannibalism, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28147779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liviania/pseuds/Liviania
Summary: Red had no choice but to step off the path, though it scared her to do so. Certainly, there was reason to fear what her grandmother told her lurked in the woods.
Relationships: Big Bad Wolf/Little Red Riding Hood (Little Red Riding Hood - Fairy Tale)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	To Grandmother's House We Go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ozsaur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozsaur/gifts).



Red was not supposed to leave the path. She didn't even want to leave the path, not after the stories she'd heard from her mother and grandmother. Sometimes she had a stray thought about what might lie beyond its borders, but those thoughts were always followed by the frightening images from her mother and grandmother's stories. What looked like a grazing fawn could be bait, waiting for her to step off the path for a closer look. Best not to risk the consequences.

But a tree had fallen across the path, its thick branches rising into the air to form a fence that forced Red to make one of two choices: wait by the tree as dark fell, in hope of some helpful woodcutter happening along, or leave the path and create her own trail to her grandmother's house. She had enough time to make it before nightfall, though not if she had to double-back because the most direct route was impossible. She'd wasted too much time worrying over her choice, convinced that anything was better than straying from the path until the hours kept passing without any sign of another person.

At first, there seemed to be little difference in walking through the woods instead of alongside them. But as she moved farther from the way, the brush grew denser and the sounds of the animals louder. The ground beneath her feet grew more unsteady, each root and rock feeling huge beneath the soles of her boots. She brushed a beetle from her cloak, trying not to shudder. Beetles had landed on her on the path before, but it felt different. In the woods, she'd been convinced she felt something snag her cloak before she looked down to see the harmless beetle.

She couldn't convince herself there wasn't a predator stalking her, guided by the sound of leaves crushed beneath her boots and the smell of the provisions in her basket.

Red felt her shoulder blades tighten, and though she knew she shouldn't, she ran wildly through the trees until she reached a small glen. That brief respite from the trees crowding around her made her feel safer. She could see anything coming from any direction.

Indeed, Red was sure she could see the movement of something sneaking up on her. She reached into a basket for a jar of jam, in case she needed something heavy to throw. Then, she realized that she could see the outline of a person. It could still be someone up to no good, out here in the woods, but when they stepped into the glen, Red realized it was another woman.

"Hello," she greeted Red with a nod of her head. Her clothing was fit for the woods—if she were a man—but each piece was too big, like she'd taken her brother's clothing to explore the woods.

"Hello, and well met. I am Clarissa, though they call me Red in the village." She gestured toward her cloak, as red as blood, with a rueful smile.

"I'm Lou," she replied, stopping at the edge of the glen so that she could lean against a tree to look at Red. She said nothing further, and Red longed to ask if her strange name was also a nickname of some sort, but something kept her from speaking.

It was shyness, Red realized. She knew everyone in the village. It had probably been years since she'd been alone with a stranger. Travelers passed through, certainly, but she'd only spoken to them in markets and pubs and other public places. Here, there was no one but her to try to forge a camaraderie. Not to mention that the woman was intimidatingly beautiful. Her hair was streaked with gray, as often happened to those who were still young but had such dark hair. It looked coarse and wild, but in a romantic way, a perfect balance to her features. Her eyes and mouth were too large to be called pretty, but they were striking. Altogether, she looked as if there were nowhere she belonged more than stepping out of the woods as if she'd appeared from nowhere.

Lou smiled, which Red noticed instantly because she was staring at Lou's lips. "What brings you to the forest?" Red asked, feeling oddly flustered.

"I live here." She waved one hand in the direction of the sun, the same direction in which Red had been walking. There were other cabins near her grandmother's, Red knew.

"Are you on your way home? I could use a companion. It feels like anything could happen when I'm in the woods alone."

"Doesn't it?" asked Lou, sounding as if the prospect of the unknown excited her. "I could use a companion myself, and here I find one waiting for me. That's the magic of the woods." She offered her hand to Red, and Red took it. When Lou stepped briskly into the woods, Red felt silly for every having feared stepping into them. Clearly, Lou felt no fright of what might lurk in the shadows.

For a while, they walked in silence, Lou leading the way with confident strides. Certainly, she made trousers seem appealing. When they reached a small stream, Lou seemed to fly over it, hopping from stone to stone. Never before had Red felt hampered by her skirts, but they weighed her down as she attempted to cross, and she slipped into the stream for one terrifying second before Lou caught her and set her on the shore.

"You're wet," Lou observed, her strong hands lingering on Red's waist. Suddenly, Lou was kneeling in front of her, knife in hand. "Let me help?" she asked. Mesmerized by her eyes, a honey brown so bright they almost seemed golden, Red nodded. The knife tugged through the weave of her skirts, cutting a slit through each layer. With a few quick slashes, Lou cut her petticoats off completely, leaving only the chemise and upper skirt. The sodden fabric dropped to the ground and Red felt a chill wind pass over her damp ankles.

Red did not want to think about what her mother would say about the cost of the fabric when she got home, but it seemed worth it when Lou helped her tie what remained into knots to form her own sort of makeshift trousers. Lou's hands guided hers, her fingers rough with calluses that made goosebumps form on Red's arms.

"Do you live with your family?" Red asked, trying to hide her flustered feelings.

Lou seemed to know what she was feeling anyway, because she was running her hands along the length of Red's legs, and it didn't seem to be because she was checking the quality of her work. "Not anymore. I could go back, but I set off on my own to find a mate. Is it family you go to visit?"

"My grandmother," Red said, pulling back the covering on her basket to reveal the jams within, as well as some sticks of dried venison. "My mother has me deliver these to her to ensure she has enough food for the winter. When the snow is high, it can be impossible for her to leave her cabin."

"A virtuous task, caring for your elderly."

"It's no chore." Red smiled as she thought of her grandmother's cabin. She'd spend the night there before returning home, tucked against her grandmother beneath a quilt she'd sewn herself, and her grandmother would tell her stories before she fell asleep. (Though often she slept poorly, as the stories her grandmother told were frightful ones.) "It is the way of family. One day I will marry, and then I can take care of my mother when she grows old."

"Who will you marry?"

"Oh, a local boy, I'm sure."

"You seem rather unenthused about the boys," Lou said, her smile sharp. Red felt a pull in her stomach, as if Lou knew that it was not familiarity keeping Red from a romance with any of the boys who would make a fine husband, but an attraction to the girls.

"I'm certain I'll find a suitable boy before you find one. There aren't many to be found here." Red looked pointedly around them, at the woods empty of all other humans.

"Perhaps you will, but I am certain that I will accomplish my goal first."

Her gaze was uncomfortable. Red looked away, blushing, telling herself that it was because Lou's eyes looked even brighter as the sky grew darker, in defiance of the setting sun.

The light had not completely gone when they reached Red's grandmother's cabin, though it was low enough in the sky her grandmother was probably worried. Pushing through the thick brush had taken more time than Red had anticipated, each step seeming to take twice as long as it did on the path.

Yes, Red's grandmother was worried, for the door opened as soon as they were in sight. "Red, my girl!" she called, and Red ran to her, hugging her grandmother about the waist and smelling her hair, the familiar scent of her dear old gran rising to meet her.

"Grandmother, I'd like you to meet Lou," she said as she stepped out of her embrace. "We met on the path. Since it is so late, do you think Lou could share our supper?"

"Why yes, yes," her grandmother said, looking her up and down in the dusky light. "What happened to you? Come in, come in, you must bathe before dinner. You are streaked with mud."

Red tried to protest—if she bathed now the water would be cold before her grandmother took her own bah—but her grandmother insisted, and sent Lou along with her.

* * *

Though Red had bathed with her mother and grandmother before, it felt different with Lou. As Lou removed her poorly fitting garments, Red couldn't look away from her revealed body. She was lean and muscular, power and grace animating her every movement.

Lou knew she was watching, and stalked toward her with confidence.

Red sank beneath the water, hiding from those knowing golden brown eyes. But Lou pulled her up, forcing Red to look at her. "Do you want a companion?" she asked, and Red nodded, mesmerized by her toothy grin.

Lou held Red's wrists in one hand, holding them over Red's head so that she was pinned to the back of the bath as Lou kissed her way down her damp body.

Her kisses made Red shiver, her mouth hot against her skin. Sometimes she nipped Red playfully, leaving a red mark here and there as she reached the place between Red's legs.

Her tongue licked the seam there, small waves of water splashing as she worked. Red had never imagined such a thing, and the feel of it was overwhelming. Lou stopped so that she could take a breath, and Red felt like she'd been holding her breath with her, having forgotten how to breathe or do anything but watch the crown of Lou's head move, her hair streaming behind her in the water. Red's breath caught again as Lou returned to licking her, this time pressing her tongue inside of Red.

Red whimpered, and Lou nipped her again, lightly closing her teeth on the bud at the apex of the cleft between Red's legs. Red flailed, or tried, held down as she was, as a previously unknown pleasure spilled from her.

Distantly, she felt Lou hooking her arms around the edge of the bath as her eyes closed, a powerful urge to rest settling upon her.

* * *

Refreshed from her bath and what occurred there, Red dressed in her night rail. She'd rinsed her chemise in the bath and laid it out to dry before heading to the kitchen. She'd never worn bedclothes in front of any but her family before, but if she'd waited the chemise wouldn't be dry by morning, and Lou had seen—and touched—her in far less.

She stepped into the kitchen, startled to see her grandmother tied to a chair, a gag in her mouth keeping her protests from disturbing Red's rest.

"Lou?" Red called out, worried that whatever intruder had gotten in had taken Lou.

"Yes?" Lou asked as she walked in. She was gnawing on the bone of a chicken leg. She tossed it aside, and Red realized the floor was littered with the bones from the chicken meant for dinner, teeth marks scoring them where all flesh had been removed. "I couldn't help poking around to see if I found anything useful. I'm something of a scavenger."

"Why did you—?" Red couldn't finish the question, too confused by what Lou was doing.

"Your grandmother has lived by these woods a long time. I'm sure she's told you the stories, but while you know them, she understands them." Lou smiled at her again, showing off those sharp teeth in that wide mouth, and this time the heat from that smile was tempered by a chill of fear.

 _"You will know wolf by their eyes and their teeth, my darling,”_ her grandmother had told her, which Red had thought was silly, because no one could fail to recognize the shape of a wolf.

Red inched towards the counter, where her grandmother kept her cooking knife. "Why?" she asked again. It was easy to look guileless when Red felt so taken in. She'd felt for Lou, and Lou had merely been hunting.

"I told you, Red. I'm looking for a mate. I've met many a woodsman, but none of them appealed. Then I met a girl with a cloak like blood." Lou turned and ladled stew out of the pot of the fire, which was not what Red expected. She cupped the bowl in her hands, feeling the warmth of it.

"Leave your family and start a new one with me. I can offer you what you really want. I will not tell you scary stories so that you marry an uninteresting boy simply so that you can stay tied to your mother's skirts and one day do the same to your daughter. We will be the scary story, the thing they fear, and it will be delicious."

Her eyes glowed not only from the firelight they reflected, but from the fervor she felt. Red took a bite of the soup to clear her head by focusing on the simple taste of stewed meat and vegetables. It was rich with grease. She swallowed, feeling the warmth spread inside, and sighed. "I could not do it." She shook her head. "I could"—she looked at Lou's form, so temptingly disguised by the ill-fitting clothing—"but I could not eat people. I am the girl who is scared."

Lou flipped up her grandmother's skirts, revealing one leg was missing below the knee. Red remembered the taste of meat in her mouth, and that Lou had eaten the chicken meant for the pot. "But you could. And you didn't even notice. You let me bite you, Red. You're already changing."

Red dropped the bowl.

"I'll leave your grandmother alone. I'm sorry, but there was no one else to make my point. Come with me, Red. Step into the woods again. It's where you belong now."

The taste of her grandmother was in her mouth. If she stayed, she would look at her grandmother and see the meat that she had eaten. Every visit would be a horror anew. Could she ever feel that her love was simple again, with that truth lying between them? And what more might Red do, who had been bitten by a wolf of the woods?

If she went with Lou, she would feel loved. She would be horrible, but she would be confident in her horror, as Lou was. Her mother and grandmother would be safe, and she would be a story.

She held out her hand, and Lou gripped her wrist tight, pulling her close into a kiss that tasted of blood and meat.

Red felt her heart beat faster.

She wasn't afraid.


End file.
